Back to Rex's POV in this chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews, guys! I probably don't need to tell you how much of a motivator that is. :)

Rex stared out the window at the faint orange and gold sunset, just visible over the tops of the flat-roofed buildings that surrounded the castle. It was beautiful, in a distant, quiet sort of way.

Angry shouts sounded from a warehouse across the road, and Rex reflected that the sunset was about the only quiet thing in the entirety of Heela. The upcoming 'event' in the arena had excited the occupants. Every cantina, betting stall, and gambling house in the city was open and full. Multiple fights had broken out. Not five minutes ago, a swoop gang had roared past, firing their pistols in the air and shouting drunken threats against each other, the Jedi, and the Republic at large.

At first, every time the clones heard laser fire, they'd reached for their guns, but after a couple of hours, it had become part of the background noise. Now, they only became wary if there wasn't a blaster shot at least once every two minutes.

Rex was considering the irony of this when Jesse spoke. "It's been a while. Think General Fisto got your message?"

"If he didn't, we're in a lot of trouble."

"Yeah. . ."

"We've still got several hours before the thirty-second hour." Rex glanced at his chronometer. "If we don't hear from him soon, we'll have to do what we can on our own."

Moving to the computer terminal, he checked Snap's datapad, on which he could view his teammates' life signs. Kix, Snap, and Gadget were on their way back from patrolling the upper halls of the castle, and they hadn't reported once. No trouble from that quarter, then.

There had been no news of the generals or of Cody since Tar Saresh's transmission, either, and although Rex hadn't expected any, the lack of information was becoming a problem. Mostly, of course, because without information, they were forced to wait around and do nothing.

"Don't shoot, Captain," said a voice outside the door, and Snap glanced cautiously around it.

"Get inside," Rex ordered. "See anything interesting?"

"Not so much as a serving droid," Kix said, shutting the door and engaging the locking mechanism.

Rex nodded and turned back to the window. They had maybe an hour before it would be dark enough to attempt relocating to the Cauldron. It would be hard to get there without being noticed, but the route Gadget had mapped out would help. Once they were there –

Once we're there, we'll follow General Skywalker's example and make up a rescue as we go along. . . Yeah, because that always works so well.

Rex shook his head. General Skywalker's strategies usually consisted of rushing in headlong and hoping for the best. Of course, he also had the skill needed to pull off crazy, suicidal stunts, like crashing entire cruisers into droid control ships. Come to think of it, a lot of the general's plans had involved crashing ships.

Maybe I should tell Oddball to land the Twilight on top of the Cauldron.

His commlink beeped, and he pressed it. "Wooley, any word from General Fisto?"

"Yes, sir, it just came in. He's on his way with the commando squad now. They'll make their way to the castle and rendezvous with your team. Time estimate, two hours."

"Good. Keep monitoring the holonet, and let me know if there are any developments."

"Will do, sir."

"Anything we can do from our end?"

There was a moment of silence, and Rex could hear another voice. Wooley cleared his throat. "Eh – Boomer says not unless you can give us a direct connection to Ventress' personal computer."

Across the room, Jesse straightened and glanced at Rex. Snap stopped polishing his already gleaming pistol, a look of interest crossing his face.

"Hmm." Rex gestured to the computer station. "Gadget, you think we can locate that from here?"

"Captain," Wooley said cautiously. "Are you really –?"

"I'll keep you posted. Captain Rex out." He clicked off his comm and turned to Gadget. "What've you got?"

The younger clone had appropriated Snap's datapad and was connecting it to the terminal. "I'll upload the castle's systems to this and overlay them with the diagram of the castle. We can narrow it down from there."

"Right," said Jesse, leaning over his shoulder. "And her computer would probably be the hardest to access, so –" He tapped the screen. "We can eliminate this location – and this one – and this one. . ."

Kix joined the group. "Hopefully, it wasn't in the throne room."

The others turned to regard him for a long moment, and Kix gave an apologetic shrug. Snap cleared his throat. "Right. . ."

"It's got to be one of these," Gadget said after a moment, pointing to three glowing red dots on the diagram. "And this one is pretty close to where the shield generator was."

Rex studied the diagram. "Let's skip that one. Jesse, Kix, Snap, get to the western one. Gadget, you're with me."

In the hallway, they split into their respective groups and hurried in opposite directions. Rex ran down one hall and then up a flight of stairs, Gadget matching him step for step. At the top of the stairs, they were stopped by a locked metal door.

As Rex glanced around for the control panel, Jesse's voice came through. "Captain, we found the terminal."

"Good. What've you got?"

"Basic security, nothing Snap can't override."

"Copy that. We've got to break down a door. Report in when you've made progress." He turned back to the door to see Gadget kneeling on the top step, tapping lightly on the metallic surface before him. "Find anything, kid?"

"Yes, sir!" Gadget got to his feet, nearly tripping in his eagerness. "The door opens inward, but the control panel is located on the other side, here."

"So the lock would be on the opposite side. . . right here."
"Yes, sir."

"Hm." Rex drew his pistols and motioned for Gadget to fall back. "Which means the hinges are – there."

He fired a few dozen times, weakening the two large hinges with the onslaught of energy. Together, he and Gadget threw themselves against it, and the door fell inward, landing on the stone floor with a hollow boom.

The room was empty of everything except a computer station, a small table and chair, and a plain bed.

"If this is Ventress' room, she must not stay here often," Gadget said, observing the simple furnishings with surprise.

Rex powered up the computer and studied the display. "Minimal security, so this probably isn't Ventress' room. . . Or is it?"

He accessed the usage history. Computer account entered four days ago, hologram call accepted, call terminated after less than two minutes; account entered yesterday, hologram call accepted, call terminated ninety seconds in; and – account entered nine minutes ago, hologram call accepted, call terminated after five minutes.

Rex checked his surroundings again, the back of his neck crawling. The dim light from the computer was enough to see that the tiny room was completely empty.

Gadget was staring at the display, his eyes reflecting the light. "Someone just left here," he said. "Right before we went up the stairs."

"Keep an eye on the stairs," Rex told him, tapping his comm. "Jesse. Keep a sharp lookout. Someone was here recently."

"Yes, sir." There was a moment's hesitation. "It wasn't a servant?"

"No." Rex glanced at the display again. "Minimal security on computer – no passcode – no activity in the past week apart from taking hologram calls, and the caller's information is heavily coded."

"So, someone wanted to access the terminal quickly, but doesn't want the caller to be known."

"Yeah. Anything on your end?"

"Not much. Some stuff related to Ventress' position as ruler of Rattatak, but nothing about the Seps. Hologram messages to war barons, money transactions. . . Nothing more recent than a month ago. We're copying everything we can."

"Good. When you've finished, join us up here."

"On our way."

"Captain Rex." Gadget's voice was steady, but it wasn't hard for Rex to pick out the slightly higher tone that indicated fear or nervousness. "Do you think Ventress was here?"

Rex glanced idly in his direction. "Yeah."

Gadget didn't answer, but he straightened his posture and went back to watching the stairwell with increased vigilance.

Works every time. When Rex had been deployed for the first time, it had been as part of a platoon of reinforcements. They landed right in the center of a battle. The air was so thick with smoke that he could see the lasers, but not the droids. The sergeant's easy overconfidence had gotten them past that first jolt of uncertainty and fear, and it was a trick Rex had used many times since then. Taught me a lot, Sarge, considering you didn't last even one battle.

Rex went to the stairway and glanced down. He needed to track that mysterious caller and find out what Ventress had been talking about here. To do that, he needed a professional slicer. His men were good, but they hadn't been trained at the level that others – commandos, for example – had been.

Rex huffed under his breath. Deltas Oh-Seven and Six-Two were going to be absolutely unbearable. Then again. . . Rex smirked. General Skywalker had been part of the bet, too. And he was the one who had gotten himself captured.

Well, the clones do take their professional pride seriously. :D Then again, Kit Fisto is hardly attempting to be humble, so . . .

Do you find it interesting to read bits and pieces of the clones' backstories, or does it slow the story down too much? Thanks for your feedback!